


Spiked Synergy

by SalamanderGoo



Category: Game Gyaru - Fandom
Genre: Briar and Rose are DETECTIVES not cops, Burns, Demon!Suzy, Dragon!Arina, F/F, Fallen Angel!Briar, Fox Shifter!Rose, Kind of dark, Multi, Polyamory, Puca!Jill, Reaper!Berry, Revenant!Miranda, Serious Injuries, Undead!Dani, mentions of death and murder, there is violence but idk if its like... super graphic, three headed puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22093024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalamanderGoo/pseuds/SalamanderGoo
Summary: She's a reaper of lost souls, a guide to those who wander.  She follows the path set for her, content to be a comfort to those who fear.  But a string of murders suddenly throws off her schedule.  Joining up with a fox and a fallen angel may be the only way to fix this timeline, but can they do it fast enough?
Relationships: Dani Avidan/Veronica Miranda Shaw, Jill Walsh/Veronica Miranda Shaw, Rose O'Donovan/Briar Wecht, Suzy Berhow/Berry Kramer/Arina Hanson
Kudos: 7
Collections: Game Grumps Holiday Exchange 2019





	Spiked Synergy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MrDrProfessorWecht](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrDrProfessorWecht/gifts).



The city was dark. Well, semi dark. The moon was obscured by smog and clouds, a figure dressed in deep purple making her way down the street. She seemed to glide, almost, head down, her motions smooth. No one spared her a second glance despite her admittedly strange appearance. If anyone looked under the hood of her cloak, they would see a woman with pale, nearly translucent skin. If you looked even closer, her bones nearly glowed white, visible if you looked for more than a second. Her hair was pulled into a neat bun, though loose curls framed her cheeks.

She froze in the middle of the sidewalk, earning a sideways glance from a passerby, but they merely shook their head, walking away. She pulled a navy blue tablet from a small messenger bag on her hip, rushing down the street, carefully weaving her way around people. She stumbled to a stop by an alley, letting her hood fall from her head. She began tapping on her tablet, slowly stepping down the alleyway, squinting against the darkness.

A body laid on the ground, half hidden under a dumpster. As she inspected it, the frown on her face deepened, concerned and disturbed as she read something. A light shone on her, illuminating the alley and reflecting off her bones. “Who’s there?” A pair of glowing blue eyes stared her down as she pulled the hood of her cloak up, the flashlight drowning out her ability to see anything other than the eyes.

“Someone I don’t think you’d enjoy messing with.” She reached for the hidden pocket of her cloak, feeling for her folded weapon, but the light dimmed as the person, no, people, approached her.

“Calm down.” The flashlight lowered, two women eyeing her suspiciously. The shorter woman had the glowing blue eyes, a trenchcoat obscuring her body, but she had a certain... glow to her. The taller woman had orange feline-like ears tipped with white, a tail with a matching pattern twitching behind her. “Who are you?”

“...Who are you?”

“Hey, we asked first!” The cat(?) woman narrowed her eyes, her pupils slitting.

“Calm down, Rose. I’m Detective Wecht, and… you might just be the current suspect of this case.”

“What?” Her eyes widened. “Oh, no, no, no. I… This person shouldn’t be dead.” She held up her tablet. “I’m a reaper. This soul isn’t due to depart for another 5 years.” 

Rose gasped. “Woah, really? When do I die?”

“...Rose, was it?” She tapped her first name in, setting it to proximity. “Rose O’Donovan?” At the girl’s nod, she selected the name, scanning over the information. “Fox shifter, huh? Thought you were a cat hybrid…” She frowned. “...there’s not a date.”

Detective Wecht stepped forward, curiously peering at the tablet. “She’s… mortal, though.”

“No, I mean, there just isn’t a date.” She pulled up herself, her human given name, Bernice Kramer. “See, mine has not applicable. Since I’m a reaper, immortal, there isn’t any possible date for me to die. Some souls have more than one possible date if varying circumstances apply, no more than three, but I’ve never seen any without a date.”

Rose peeked at the screen. “What does that mean then?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to consult someone. In the meantime, there’s a wandering soul. I need to make some calls and figure out what to do.” She put her tablet away. “Please try to find who killed this person. It’s throwing this timeline off and I don’t want to watch another timeline crush like a can.”

“...Bernice, right? We’ll do our best.”

She smiled lightly. “My friends call me Berry.” With that, she began her walk home.

The next few days tormented Berry. Her work suddenly became difficult, souls confused and wandering. Dates were suddenly changing or outright disappearing for souls that should have been due. So it was something of a relief when she got a call from the detective.

“Berry, hi, it’s Detective Wecht. We’ve apprehended a suspect and I think you might be able to help.”

Berry glanced at her partner. “Really? Okay, what’s the address?” She held her phone between her shoulder and cheek, scribbling it down on a scrap of paper. “Oh, I’m pretty close actually.” She paused. “Uh, are dogs allowed in the building?”

“Yes? Do… do you have a dog with you?”

“...see you in 5.” Berry hung the phone up, offering a hand to her partner with a small grin.

The small detective station blended into the street’s buildings almost too well, but Berry carefully pushed the door open. “Hello?”

Rose walked up to her. “Berry, hi!” She paused, looking down. “Oh hello.” She was looking at the dog at Berry’s side, a St Bernard with three heads, all sniffing around curiously.

“This is Adore, she’s my hellhound.” She scratched one of Adore’s heads, grinning when it leaned against her hip. “She’s only half grown, she’ll be close to my height on all fours when she’s full grown. But she helps me guide souls to the afterlife. And this is Suzy, my partner.”

Suzy smiled with her too sharp teeth, dressed in dark reds and blacks, the sclera of her eyes black with green irises and slit pupils. “It’s nice to meet you. We heard you have a suspect?”

“Yeah, come on. The interrogation room is this way. I love your horns by the way.” Rose smiled at Suzy.

“Oh thank you! I polished them yesterday.” Her horns stuck up out of her hair, a slight curve at the end, hooves clicking softly on the laminated floors.

Berry giggled, squeezing Suzy’s hand. Suzy smiled, but froze as they approached the observation room behind the interrogation room. “Suzy?”

“Angel,” she snarled. “Why is there an angel here?”

Rose glanced back, frowning, but before anything could be said, the door swung open, revealing an angry looking Detective Wecht. “...demon.”

“Angel.” Suzy met her glare. “What are you doing here?”

“This is my station. Who invited a demon here?”

Berry frowned. “I… She was with me when you called.”

Rose stepped between them. “Bri, Briar, hey, what’s going on?”

Briar took off her trench coat, a pair of mangled looking feathery wings unfurling behind her, multiple pairs of eyes opening on her face and arms. Suzy’s skin flushed dark red, her own wings spreading, bony and covered in black scales, her tail thrashing angrily. “Don’t try to intimidate a demon with a few extra eyes.”

“Trust me. That’s not all I have.” Briar stood as tall as she could, the feathers on her wings puffing up to try and make herself bigger, her body glowing as she seemed to be gathering her power. Suzy’s hands, now stark red with pointed claws, began to glow with a dark, muddy energy.

“Stop it!” Berry threw herself between them. “Both of you! You’re adults!” She gave them both an intense glare, one she’d perfected after thousands of years of dealing with unruly souls. Adore whimpered, trying to hide behind Rose. Briar’s glow dissipated, her wings folding behind her and her eyes closing. Suzy looked at the ground as she folded her wings to let them disappear, the red fading from her skin. Berry sighed. “Good. Now, I know angels and demons aren’t on the best terms. I’m literally a reaper, I move between the planes. But you two are both here, on the literal middle ground. None of that matters here. Suze, if you want to go home, that’s fine. If you decide to stay, you and Briar need to shake hands and be civil. There’s a suspect that could be the one who has somehow thrown this timeline off balance, and we can’t be wasting time like this.”

Briar lightly cleared her throat, brushing a stray feather from her shirt. “...I’m sorry. You’re right.”

“I’m sorry too. I chose to leave Hell, and I should leave those feuds behind me.” Suzy looked up at Briar, not looking fully comfortable, but she kept her expression mostly neutral. “Is it okay with you if I stay?”

Briar nodded. “I suppose.” She hesitantly extended a hand, smiling faintly when Suzy shook it. “A demon such as yourself might be of assistance. I’m sure Berry’s filled you in on what’s going on.”

“For the most part.” She smiled a little when Adore nuzzled a head under her hand, another head licking at her fingers.

Berry smiled a little, turning to Rose. “Who’s the suspect?”

“Daniella Avidan. She was found near the latest crime scene with blood on her hands.”

Berry hummed, pulling up Daniella’s soul information. “Hm. She’s registered as undead. These pages are usually more specific with species and status.”

“Could she just have a super resilient soul? That like, didn’t leave her body when she died?”

“It’s a little more nuanced than that, but I suppose.” She hummed. “I just… don’t know if someone with a bare human level of energy could be affecting time space the same way. Do you think I could ask her some questions?”

Rose tapped her chin with a clawed finger. “Hey Bri, wanna take Berry in to talk to Avidan?”

Briar looked relieved to be freed from the stilted conversation with Suzy. “Yeah, sure. You can take Suzy into the observation room. Ah, try to keep the dog from shedding everywhere.”

Rose grinned, shifting into her red fox form, hopping around Adore to play, leading her into the observation room. Berry covered her mouth to stifle a giggle, giving Suzy a quick kiss on the cheek before following Briar into the small interrogation room.

The room was tiny, a large, blacked out window across the wall that connected to the observation room, a table, and a chair on each side. A woman was sitting in the chair facing the window, her arms crossed. She had wildly curly hair pulled away from her face with a soft blue scrunchie. Her skin was gray and appeared to be stitched in certain places, presumably from rot soon after death. Berry tried not to think about that, looking at the woman, Daniella’s, face. When she looked up, Berry could see her eyes were cloudy, her iris and pupil partially obscured.

“Daniella Avidan, this is Berry, she has some questions for you.”

Daniella raised an eyebrow, eyes slowly tracking Berry’s movements. “Do you think I killed that guy too?”

“This is bigger than a few murders.” She paused. “...that sounded insensitive. Sorry, I’m kind of used to death at this point.”

Daniella frowned. “...Okay, who are you and why are you questioning me?”

“I’m Berry. I’m a reaper, in charge of assisting the movement of souls, mainly after death. The string of recent murders is affecting the time space fabric, which makes my job a whole lot harder.” She pulled up a new page. “Soul pages keep changing. The dates aren’t staying consistent. The last timeline this happened to collapsed, which is… a very messy process and means a lot of souls are trapped. There are still souls out there that some of my fellow reapers are working to recover.”

“...so this is really bad?”

“Incredibly so. You have a powerful soul. It would seem your soul stayed attached to your body when you died and residual magic was absorbed to allow your body to… well, live. However, there’s evidence of powerful magic that’s allowing someone to bypass the path being set by time.”

“I didn’t kill anyone. I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I swear I didn’t.”

Berry hesitated. “...would you consent to a few tests?”

“Yeah, sure.”

A blood test later, and there was definite evidence that Daniella hadn’t been the murderer. Her blood test came back negative for enhanced magic or any recent magic used. The blood had been explained away with a raw chicken sandwich, a thought that made Berry a little queasy, but Dani swore it was delicious. Well, to each their own, she supposed.

“So we’re back to square one?” She looked at Rose and Briar, who nodded grimly.

Briar sighed. “I got a partial signature from where the body was dumped, but I don’t think that’s going to go very far. I’ve got it running in the lab, but I don’t know how long before the results come in.”

As she was saying that, a raven swooped in with a muffled caw, landing on Rose’s shoulder. Rose took the paper with a grin. “Well, that answers one question.”

The raven hopped off of Rose’s shoulder, twisting and shifting in midair, changing into a young woman with black hair pulled into a thick braid down her back. Her eyes shone golden, and a pair of cat like ears poked out from her hair. “Sorry for the theatrics, but flying is faster than running!” She had a thick Irish accent and a big grin.

“No, this is great.” Briar read through it with a small grin. “Traces of magical enhancement. All we have to do is find out what kind, and we’ve got a trail.”

The woman with cat ears (oh, and a tail that Berry noticed when she turned) grinned brighter. “I’m a step ahead.” She pointed to the bottom of the paper. “Based on specific irregularities in the magical signature I managed to pull, it seems like a potion. A potion with some like, super illegal ingredients.”

“Oh? That’s definitely helpful.” Briar hummed.

Suzy grinned. “I think I might know a guy who can help.”

“Do you?”

“My wife is a potions expert!” Suzy nodded. “Should I call her?”

Briar shrugged. “It can’t hurt. Especially if she knows people who can help trace this. If we can find a manufacturer, we can find who bought it, and narrow it down.”

Berry nodded, bouncing slightly. “And we can save this timeline.”

The girl with cat ears smiled. “Oh, I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I’m Jill.”

“Berry.”

“I’m Suzy. I’ll give my wife a call, I’m sure she can come meet us.” Suzy took her phone out, stepping away to call her wife.

“Tell her I love her!” Berry called after her with a grin.

Arina showed up about a half hour later, wearing a pair of pajama pants and an old tee shirt. “I wasn’t still asleep,” she muttered before Berry could ask. “How can I help?”

“Arina Hanson was it? I’m Detective Briar Wecht, Suzy said you might be able to help us.”

“Tell me what you need, and I’ll do what I can.”

“Jill can lead you to the lab.” Briar nodded her head, Jill smiling and greeting Jill, taking her to the lab.

“So I found traces of illegal potion ingredients, but I’m not quite sure what kind or where it came from.” Jill sat in the chair in front of her computer. “Go ahead and pull up a chair.” She eyed Arina’s thick, scaled tail. “...That one over there might be the most comfortable for you.”

Arina laughed. “Hon, I’m a dragon. I’m used to squishing into chairs.” She grabbed one, sitting down. “Let’s see what we’re working with. Luckily I took a class on dark potions. The thing is, no one ingredient is technically illegal. It’s all about how volatile rare ingredients get with common ones, like... “ She paused, looking at the list. “Wow, spiked thornberry? That’s… super rare, especially around here.” Her eyes scanned the list, her smile falling into a worried smile. “And middlemist? Shit, I know what this is.” She looked over at Jill.

Jill frowned. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

Arina seemed to pale behind the pink and red scale patches on her face. “It’s Spiked Synergy. This is the most dangerous potion to be developed. It drastically enhances magic. To the point that like… an average human with no training would be wielding the power of a demigod. Someone like a fully trained warlock or a fairy? Close to incalculable.”

“...where would someone get these ingredients? I’ve never even heard of some of these. Like… nebula silene?”

“Some of these are dangerous on their own. It’s not even their volatility at this level.” Arina bit her lip, her fangs digging in slightly. “What we need is… god, this person can’t be left to get away with this. Berry was talking about a timeline collapse if this goes on too long… and god I know she’s fucked up from seeing one of those. I can’t imagine it’s comfortable to go through for mortals.”

“Yeah.” Jill sighed. “Do you know where someone might get these ingredients or even this potion?”

“If there’s a dealer out there? Major yikes.” Arina gave a weak laugh. “But if they were… just outside city limits, there’s a strain of farmland. When I was in college, I studied with an ingredient farmer out there. The soil is kind of, well, perfect for some of these ingredients. And if someone was able to like, repurpose a barn… though a potion of this magnitude would need some serious heat under it, and like, a thousand intricacies. Not to mention the power that would have to go into it.” She got up to pace, tapping her chin with a clawed finger. She murmured to herself, her tail and wings anxiously shifting and moving. “...unless…”

“Unless?” Jill had been half watching, half running the signature again in case something had been missed. But her work was impeccable and she’d gotten right the first time.

“Unless there’s an underground for illegal enhancements in this city that the incomprtent police are missing!” Arina practically flew down the hall, Jill turning into a raven to follow.

Briar and Suzy were having a heated discussion about something that sounded awfully political with Berry watching to make sure they stayed civil. But Arina nearly crashed into Briar in her hurry, offering her a small smile. “...you’re cute.”

“...what.”

“Can we keep her?” She looked at Suzy, who snickered.

“Hey, I already let you keep Berry. You need to prove you’re responsible enough for another girlfriend.” She was grinning anyway, shaking her head.

Briar raised an eyebrow. “...so, figure out anything useful?”

“Oh! Yeah, there’s probably an underground potion ring in this city. Whoever this person is, they’re using Spiked Synergy.”

Berry’s eyes widened. “Well shit. There hasn’t been a case of that in…”

“At least 10 years in this city.” Briar frowned. “That’s worrying.”

Arina nodded, watching as Jill sat on a desk in her raven form. “I think it might be based just outside of town. The soil is perfect for growing some of these things. A weather mage could control a small patch of land to gather ingredients, and a tall barn could be used to brew it. Straw and hay could be used to stoke a fire, with the tall roof and maybe a skylight to prevent the whole thing from burning down.”

“Interesting.” Rose frowned. “If we could investigate out there, it would help.”

Jill shifted, sitting cross legged on the desk. “I know a stealthy girl if we need her.”

“We might. Berry, keep an eye on those dates. I’m going to research some stuff, I’ll give you a call when we need to go investigate.”

“Sounds good.”

Suzy gave Briar a hesitant smile. “Well, nice meeting you detective. Maybe we’ll see you around.”

“Perhaps.” Briar smiled faintly.

Adore went around to get everyone to pet her, all three heads panting happily with her tail wagging.

The next few days weren’t better. Berry was struggling with the souls, desperately chasing down the departed. The dates were changing and disappearing altogether. It was a relief when Briar gave her a call, letting her know they were searching the outskirts of town.

When she met up with them, dressed in her dark purple cloak, Jill was transformed into a black goat, her golden eyes standing out. She bleated in greeting, Rose waving. “Hey Berry. This is Miranda, we might need her help with the investigation.”

Miranda waved, smiling. She looked a little like Daniella, the same grey skin tone, though stitching across her skin was almost more deliberate. Her eyes weren’t cloudy, but her sclera were black with bright pink irises. “Hello Berry! Nice to meet you!”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Berry smiled. “What’s the plan?”

“Jill is gonna blend in with the goats over there and give us a signal if she sees, smells, or hears anything suspicious.”

“Why not her raven form?”

Briar hummed. “Well, a raven with gold eyes is obviously a shifter. A goat is a little less telling.” She held up a pair of binoculars. “Whenever you’re ready Jill.” Her wings were tense, furled behind her. As Jill bleated, meandering over and trying to look as goat-y as she could, Briar led them over to an old, broken down truck abandoned by the road.

She watched Jill, peeking over the bed of the truck. “So… Miranda. What do you do when not looking for illegal potion rings?”

“Oh, the usual.” She laughed softly. “My girlfriend is a musician. But I’m a bit of a gardener. Though I have a bit of a gray thumb,” she joked.

Berry laughed. “That’s funny, I like that.” She glanced over the truck, looking down at her arm, eyes tracing the familiar shape of her ulna and radius. “So we just… wait?”

“We just wait.” Rose offered her a smile, shifting to her fox form to slip under the truck and watch.

It wasn’t too long before Jill bucked her head, staring at the barn across the street. “Let’s go!” With a single downward flap of her long wings, Briar was airborne, zooming towards the barn, sending a message to their backup. Rose followed in her fox form, nearly matching her speed. Miranda grabbed Berry’s hand as they hurried after, Jill shifting to a deep black horse, using her powerful back legs to kick the door in. “Everyone freeze!”

Berry took her weapon out, letting it extend to its full size, a purple and orange scythe that twisted in intricate details.

The barn was full of people, a cauldron sitting atop a blazing fire in the middle, the cauldron full of boiling purple liquid. Berry felt slapped in the face from the sheer power that seemed to be radiating from it. And then the chaos started.

The people began to run. Before she knew what she was doing, Berry swung her scythe to pull one door shut, grabbing the other with her hand. She used the momentum to pull herself up, bringing her legs to her chest and kicking someone down to the ground. Jill had transformed into a large black wolf, snarling and using her size to knock people down, not shying away from using her claws. Briar was using her fists and her wings to fight, not even flinching as a knife actually went through a wing.

Miranda was using small blasts of energy and some form of martial arts to fight, gasping when she saw someone going for the potion. “No!”

Rose shifted to her human form, shoving herself between the man and the cauldron. She was barely fast enough, but got knocked down.

Right.

Into.

The.

Cauldon.

Everyone seemed to freeze.

Rose screamed. The metal was hot and burned and the boiling potion poured onto the ground. She cursed and screamed through pained sobs, unable to get up from the pain, practically laying in the fire.

As Briar ran to help Rose, Berry managed to apprehend the man who had been going for the potion. Briar pulled Rose into her arms, supporting her under the knees and very gently just under the neck. “Can you put your arms around my neck, love?”

Rose cried out in pain, but managed to grasp tightly. “Hurts, it hurts…”

“I know. You did so good, you saved us all.” She kissed Rose’s head softly as the backup arrived. “Can you hold on until I get you to the hospital?”

“Only for you, angel.” Rose smiled weakly, body trembling.

“Briar…” Berry frowned.

“I need to get her to the hospital. I’ll… I’ll call you when I know more. Let me know if the timeline is fixed, okay?”

She flapped her wings, doing her best to shield Rose while holding her tight.

“Shit,” Jill swore.

“Yeah.” Berry folded her scythe back up. “That… god, the fur was burning off her tail…”

Miranda grabbed Jill’s hand tight. “Think she’ll be okay?”

“Briar wouldn’t let her be anything but okay.” Jill squeezed back. “For now… I think I’m going to go get some magic signature reads. Everyone apprehended is going to be under arrest for making the potion, but whoever used it? Well… it won’t be good.” She looked over at Berry, who looked exceptionally shaken. “Berry, can I give you a ride home?”

“...yes please.” She cleared her throat, finding it hard not to cry. “Shit… I’ve been alive for thousands of years and I… I‘ve seen people in every stage of death, but something about her screaming…”

“It’s hard.” Miranda wrapped an arm around her. “She’ll be okay. Just breathe. Are your partners home?”

“I… I don’t know if Suzy is… Arina should be though.”

“Good. You’ll know when she’s okay, don’t worry.” Jill guided Berry, humming softly to her as Miranda rubbed her back.

Berry spent the rest of the day hiding against Arina, wrapped in her wings. Briar called the next day, when Berry realized the dates had been set, that there were dates for nearly everyone she checked. When she looked at Rose to find no date, she distantly remembered an old rule that a reaper didn’t get to know when someone they were close to would pass. Maybe it was the same reason why she couldn’t see Arina’s date.

Nearly two weeks later, Rose was home. Berry and Suzy walked up to the door of the apartment Rose and Briar lived in, knocking softly.

Briar answered, looking overtired. “Berry, Suzy, hi. Come on in.”

Rose was laying on her stomach on the couch with a plush cat. “Hey you two. Come to see little old me?”

“We did.” Berry held up a small bunch of flowers, Suzy carrying a lasagna to be frozen. “We wanted to see how you’re doing. ...I was worried. Arina wanted to come, but she’s giving a lecture today.”

“That’s really sweet.” She winced as she sat up, reaching for her glass of apple cider.

“Careful… how bad was it?”

“A lot of my back and the backs of my arms were burned pretty bad. I’m not supposed to lay on my back for awhile, and my tail lost a lot of fur so it looks real weird.”

“But she’s okay.” Briar kissed Rose’s head, smiling. “You remember Dani? Who we interrogated? Apparently she’s dating Miranda. They brought us some flowers too.”

“Which Briar keeps eating.”

Briar blushed. “I only ate a few.”

Suzy snorted. “Who knew angels had a taste for flowers?”

“Quiet, demon.” She glared, but there was no real heat behind it. The two had developed an odd sort of friendship, nowhere near the anger they’d initially had towards each other.

Berry sat down next to Rose with a small smile. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Me too. ...thanks for everything.”

“Hey, you single handedly saved this timeline. I think I owe you one.”

Rose leaned softly on Berry’s shoulder. “Well, I might have to take you up on that one.” She closed her eyes, smiling.

And with that, the case of the wonky timeline was officially shut.

...Berry would work on the name.


End file.
